Top Scoops: Comment & Opinion Digest 14 May 2007

Monday, 14 May 2007, 3:50 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
Letter From Lebanon: Southern Lebanese Farmers Face Uncertain Future
Parenting: Jackie Little's Eldest Takes A Brief Hop
Sudan: Darfur - The Hourglass of Blood
Stateside: Rosalea Barker Listens To Dahr Jamail On Lebanon
Depleted Uranium: Toni Solo - Moloch's Jellybabies
Israel/Palestine: The 1 State/2 State Debate – Pappe vs Avnery
Posada Carriles: Julie Webb-Pullman On Silencing The LAMBS
American Coup: Hammertime - Voting Machines And Citizen Violence
Religion: A Corrupting A Cosmic Crutch Emerges In Thailand
Iraq: David Swanson Assesses The Democrats War Funding Capitulation
LATEST US ATTORNEYS NEWS LINKS:
MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
LATEST SOUTH ASIAN NEWS & COMMENT:

Letter From Lebanon: Southern Lebanese Farmers Face Uncertain Future

Yasmine Ryan writes from Beirut: Ibrahim Akeel has an axe hanging over his neck. Along with his fellow farmers in the southern Lebanese village known as Sinai, the elderly man has little control over his fate and that of his children. Like countless peasants across Lebanon, he lives in fear that in the not-too-distant future, a change in heart from one of the four absentee landlords - who own almost all the agricultural land available to the villagers - will destroy their way of life. A complete lack of government protection for smallholder farmers means that there is little Akeel could do if this were to happen. See... More >> [1]

Also:
• Yasmine Ryan - Letter from Lebanon: Farmers Risk Losing Big Under Trade Lib Reforms [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00245.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00246.htm

Parenting: Jackie Little's Eldest Takes A Brief Hop

Ho Hum, here we go again:, another little milestone on the way to a child's independence, another lump in the throat to be swallowed down, and of course, another fiasco courtesy of yours truly. My eldest boy now aged nine received a very kind invitation from his Uncle and Aunty to join them in Auckland for the weekend as a belated birthday treat. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00214.htm

Sudan Darfur - The Hourglass of Blood

The Darfur crisis in Sudan is perhaps the most politically convoluted conflict in the world today. Its underpinnings involve local, regional and international players, all selfishly vying for power and economic interests. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00284.htm

Stateside: Rosalea Barker Listens To Dahr Jamail On Lebanon

Sometimes, living in the United States, I feel like tribespeople living in the highlands of Papua New Guinea have a better chance of getting coverage of world events than I do. Nonetheless, I do my best, even if it means I have to sit in a drafty old ex-church and watch a slideshow. See... More >> [1]

MORE:
• Rosalea Barker - Stateside: Cliffs Notes for Poll Watchers [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00292.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00238.htm

Depleted Uranium: Toni Solo - Moloch's Jellybabies

The United States militarist plutocracy wrangled in recent weeks over assigning more than 500 billion of worth-less-and-less foreign creditors' US dollars to its imperialist war machine. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00291.htm

Israel/Palestine: The 1 State/2 State Debate – Pappe vs Avnery

The 'Two-States or One State' public debate between Uri Avnery and Ilan Pappe got enormous attention already before it took place on the evening of May 8. 2007. The positions taken by the two "gladiators" were known in advance. It was Teddy Katz ... See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00283.htm

Posada Carriles: Julie Webb-Pullman On Silencing The LAMBS

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Super-judge, Bush-appointed Federal Judge Kathleen Cardone, saving the day for the CIA. This intrepid defender of the values her Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez holds so dear, like the separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive, stunned one and all last week with her sheer audacity in dismissing immigration fraud charges against notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles - because transcripts of taped conversations he had with INS officials were inaccurate and unreliable! Because the interpreter wasn’t up to scratch!! See... More >> [1]

MORE ON POSADA CARRILES:
• National Security Archive - Shoe & Toothpaste Airplane Bombing In CIA Program? [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00286.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00202.htm

American Coup: Hammertime - Voting Machines And Citizen Violence

- A 52-year old carpenter from Arlington Virginia expressed frustration over losing his voting rights by taking a hammer to a voting machine. The WinVote machine succumbed to no less than an Estwing Supreme 22S, "the finest framing hammer known to mankind," according to Sabo. Arlington has been forcing its citizenry to vote on machines of questionable pedigree, which count votes in secret, prohibit citizen oversight and for added fun, feature wireless capability throughout Election Day. See... More >> [1]

MORE AMERICAN COUP:
• Fitrakis & Wasserman - The Globalization Of Electronic Election Theft [2]
• Matt Renner - Congress Takes A Step Forward on Verifiable Voting [3]
• Roy Lipscomb and Sheila Parks - FAQs - Hand-Counted Paper Ballots [4]
• Bradblog.Com - DRE Sales Rep. New San Diego Registrar of Voters [5] , Holt Election Reform Bill Passes Out of Committee [6] & HoR Cmte. Dismisses 4 of 5 House Election Contests [7]
• John Gideon - Daily Voting News For May 12, 2007 [8] , May 11, 2007 [9] , May 10, 2007 [10] , May 9, 2007 [11]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00282.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00273.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00236.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00261.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00259.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00205.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00203.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00266.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00258.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00239.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00215.htm

Religion: A Corrupting A Cosmic Crutch Emerges In Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Buddhists have become obsessed with a magic amulet which resembles a rap star's bling-sized medallion, despite warnings that the circular icon is a cosmic crutch, corrupting religion and society. When a fresh batch of Jatukam Ramathep amulets went on sale in April, buyers stampeded, trampling a woman to death. See... More >> [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00281.htm

Iraq: David Swanson Assesses The Democrats War Funding Capitulation

The new war money bill passed by the House on May 10 does not include even a nonbinding end date for the war. It does fund the war for a shorter period of time at one shot, but the Senate doesn't like that idea, and the bill must be reconciled with whatever the Senate passes. So, what's left in the bill that Bush doesn't like? Benchmarks! See... More >> [1] .

MORE IRAQ NEWS & COMMENT:
• David Swanson - More War, With A Peace Label [2] , For Five Years We've Called It Blood for Oil [3] , Questions for Candidates [4] & Puzzling Out Pelosi [5]
• UK Guardian - Gag Order As 2 Jailed for Leaking Blair-Bush Memo [6]
• William Rivers Pitt - Two Hearings, One Reality [7]
• Mamoon Alabbasi - New Play: Fallujah Freed From Fallacy [8]
• Mark Drolette - Mark Drolette: Bush - America, Our Own Worst Enemy [9]
• Atlanta Progressive News - Cindy Sheehan May Run for US Congress in 2008 [10]
• Greg Palast - Amy Goodman & Greg Palast Mom's Day Broadcast [11]
• Siddhi B. Ranjitkar - Nepal: People’s Third Movement In The Offing [12]
• John Chuckman - Likely Historical Significance Of The War In Iraq [13]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00256.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00242.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00269.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00262.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00210.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00263.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00279.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00276.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00274.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00271.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00272.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00270.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00211.htm

LATEST US ATTORNEYS NEWS LINKS:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00280.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00235.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00209.htm

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LATEST SOUTH ASIAN NEWS & COMMENT:

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ENDS

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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